RAKESH KUMAR Vs. DIRECTOR, SEC. EDU.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner, who is working in the respondent education department, was transferred vide order dated 30.6.2015 from Village 9Z, Sri Ganganagar to Khajuwala, Raisinghnagar. He challenged the said order by filing an appeal before the Rajasthan Civil Services Appellate Tribunal. The Tribunal, while entertaining the appeal passed a conditional interim order dated 16.7.2015 directing that upon the authorities releasing T.A. and D.A. to the petitioner, the interim order would stand vacated automatically. It is against the said order dated 16.7.2015 that the instant writ petition has been preferred.

(2.) Counsel for the petitioner submits that similar orders passed by the Tribunal were challenged before this Court in S.B.Civil Writ Petition No.1611/2015 (Ramesh Sachdeva v. Rajasthan Civil Services Appellate Tribunal and Ors.) decided on 20.2.2015 and S.B.Civil Writ Petition No.7334/2015 (Shah Rasool v. State of Rajasthan and Ors.) decided on 14.7.2015. In both the cases, this Court directed modification of the Tribunal's order to the extent it was ordered that the stay order passed in favour of the petitioner would come to an automatic end upon payment of TA/DA. It is contended that various other grounds of challenge have been raised by the petitioner in his appeal before the Tribunal and thus, the conditional stay order issued by the Tribunal in the petitioner's favour is thoroughly unjustified because upon the condition imposed by the tribunal being satisfied, the petitioner would immediately be relieved and thus, the appeal which involves other questions would be rendered otiose. He thus prays that the interim order passed by the Tribunal may be modified and ordered to be kept in currency till the final disposal of the petitioner's appeal by the Tribunal.

(3.) Upon having considered the arguments advanced by the petitioner's counsel and after going through the impugned order as well as the orders dated 20.2.2015 and 14.7.2015 passed by this Court in the cases of Ramesh Sachdeva and Shah Rasool (supra), this Court is of the opinion that the conditional stay order passed by the Tribunal is not at all justified. The petitioner has taken a pertinent ground in his appeal that the transfer order issued without accounting for TA/DA would be illegal as the same runs contrary to the mandatory provisions of the Service Rules. If the conditional order is allowed to stand then the petitioner's appeal would be rendered meaningless, the moment, authorities release the TA/DA. In this background, this Court is of the opinion that rather than issuing a conditional stay order, the Tribunal should have issued an interim order protecting the petitioner's status till the final decision of the appeal.